Siluete

Siluete (Serbian Cyrillic: Силуете, trans. The Silhouettes) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade, notable for being one of the pioneers of the former Yugoslav rock scene.

History

1961 - 1971

The band was officially formed on October 20, 1961 by Zoran Miščević (vocals and bass guitar), Branko Gluščević (formerly of Black Cats, rhythm guitar), Ilija Stanić (guitar), Zoran Simjanović (keyboards) and Miroslav "Mine" Minić (drums). The band members, influenced by the film The Young Ones which featured Cliff Richard and The Shadows, named the band Siluete. The band had their first notable performance on Đorđe Marjanović's concert in Belgrade's Dom sindikata.

After performances in Makarska during the summer of 1963, the members of Siluete departed. Simjanović moved to Elipse, Gluščević and Miščević formed Lutalice with guitarist Božidar "Lari" Plesničar and rhythm guitarist Slobodan Mihajlović, and Ilić continued to lead Siluete in the new lineup: Dejan Dunjić (bass guitar), Jovan Mišević (drums), Miomir "Kraka" Petrović (rhythm guitar) and Ljuba Đorđević (keyboards). As the band performed instrumental music, at one of their performances they were approached by singer Tomislav "Tomi" Sovilj (formerly of Zlatni Dečaci) who suggested them to work together, but this collaboration lasted for only a year.

As Lutalice disbanded in 1964, Miščević moved back to Siluete which soon achieved high success with their live performances. In the mid 1964, Tomi Sovilj formed his own Siluete, but the members of the original Siluete sued him and he lost the right to use the name Siluete, so he continued to perform with his band under the name Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete (Tomi Sovilj and His Silhouettes). During 1965, Siluete shocked the audience with their live performances, which secured them with huge popularity. At the time there were around 230 rock bands in Belgrade, but all of them wore short hair and tidy clothes, which were the standards Siluete changed. At the Belgrade Gitarijada held on January 9, 1966 on Belgrade's Sajmište, Siluete performed with other popular rock bands. That evening a former member of Beduini, guitarist Dragi Jelić performed with the band for the first time. In 1967, Siluete won the first place on Gitarijada organized by Večernje novosti. They released their first EP with songs "Tvoj rođendan" (a cover of Small Faces's "Sha la la lie") "Massachusetts" (cover of the Bee Gees' song) ""Keti", "Najdraži san" (cover of The Searchers' "When You Walk in the Room") and "Uhvati vetar" (cover of Donovan's "Catch the Wind")^[1] and sold more than 45,000 copies of it.

At the time, film direction student Srđan Karanović recorded a television movie about Siluete, entitled Učio sam dve godine kontrabas (I Learned how to Play Bass for Two Years). The band also appeared in Branko Bauer's film Doći i ostati. During 1966 they often performed in Belgrade and Zagreb on the exhibitions of painter Olja Ivanjicki. The band appeared on front covers of various magazines and Miščević's long blond hair caused numerous scandals. There were several attempts by citizens of Belgrade to cut his hair, so he got the media's attention by trying to insure his hair. On New Year's Eve of 1967, they held a twenty-three-hour concert in Belgrade's Dom Omladine. In January 1968, at their concert in Sarajevo, a riot broke out. A large number of chairs was broken, Miščević's shirt was ripped off, his gold necklace was split, Ljuba Đorđević was hit on the head with a bottle, and Siluete manager's wallet was stolen. At the Siluete concert in Novi Sad band members broke their guitars, got in a fight with the audience and the band's van was damaged. Miščević regularly received hundreds of letters from his fans becoming the first Yugoslav megastar since Đorđe Marjanović.

The band tried to break into the foreign market; for months they performed in Austria and Germany, but the guitarist Dragi Jelić left the band and went back to Yugoslavia where he joined the band Džentlmeni (he would later form highly successful YU Grupa with his brother Žika). Jelić was replaced by a former Džentlmeni member Slobodan Todorović. During the absence of Siluete from Yugoslavia some newspapers published the news that Siluete performed at a graveyard in Nuremberg.

After returning to Yugoslavia the band released the single with songs "Dona" i "Voleti nekog", organized comeback concert in Belgrade's Dom Omladine, and went on Yugoslav tour. In 1969 Dunjić left the band and was replaced by the bass guitarist and painter Aleksandar Cvetković. After releasing the single "Dosadan dan" they started performing in clubs all over Europe, but when the band members realized that their intention to release a record for the foreign market will not be realized, they split-up. Cvetković moved to the band CD, and Miščević remained in Germany for two more years. After returning to Yugoslavia in 1973 he performed with various bands before deciding to retire.

1975 - 1995

One of numerous Siluete lineups from the 1980s. The lineup pictured features Nikola Čuturilo (second one from the right).

In 1975 Miščević reformed Siluete. The new lineup consisted of Ljuba Đorđević (keyboards), Boba Orlić (formerly of Bitnici, bass guitar) Dragan Vukelić (electric piano) and Radomir Dramičanin (formerly of Dah, drums). Siluete went on a tour on which Miščević appeared on stage with a snake, but they saw little success and disbanded once again. In 1976 Miščević and Đorđević reformed Siluete with a group of younger musicians. This line-up recorded single "Ponoćni voz" and single "Makedonsko devojče" with former miss Yugoslavia Lidija Vekovska.

During the following years Miščević led Siluete with little success. More than 180 musicians passed through Siluete, and new musical trends took Siluete to the margin. However, Siluete appeared on several larger concerts, on which the band performed a cover of Bijelo Dugme's "Kad bi bio bijelo dugme" with lyrics "Dok su bile Siluete / Dugmići su bili malo dete" ("While Silhouettes were playing / Buttons were just kids"). Siluete would later appear on Bijelo Dugme's concert on JNA Stadium as one of the opening bands.

In 1986, Ljuba Đorđević died, but Miščević decided to continue activity. In 1994, a various artists compilation album Sjaj izgubljene ljubavi (Shine of the Lost Love), which featured Siluete song "Tvoj rođendan", was released.^[2] Zoran Miščević died on April 4, 1995.^[3] In 2000 the compilation album VIS Siluete, with an overview of the band's work, was released.^[4]

Kad je rock bio mlad, a 2005 box-set compilation released by Croatia Records, featuring the Yugoslav rock pioneer bands, included the band's instrumental "Tema Silueta" ("Silhouettes' Theme").^[5]

Legacy

The song "Uhvati vetar" was covered by Jura Stublić & Film on their 1989 album Zemlja sreće.

Discography

EPs

• Tvoj rođendan (1966)
• Dona (1967)
• Kiša (1967)

Compilation albums

• VIS Siluete (2000)

Singles

• "Sećanje na Keti" / "Dosadan dan" (1969)
• "Makedonsko devojče" / "The Girls From Macedonia" (1976)
• "Ponoćni voz" / "Plačem" (1977)
• "Tvoj rođendan" (1994)
• "Tema Silueta" (2005)

References

1. ↑ Tvoj rođendan at Discogs
2. ↑ Sjaj izgubjene ljubavi at Discogs
3. ↑ Živko Ivković, "Zvezda koja će večno sjati"
4. ↑ VIS Siluete at Discogs
5. ↑ Kad je rock bio mlad at croart.com

• EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4
• Fatalni ringišpil: hronika beogradskog rokenrola 1959—1979, Žikić Alkesandar, publisher: Geopoetika, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1999

External links

• Siluete at Discogs
• Siluete at Last.fm